"speak" to MI. Hart-in a friendly way. So little Hill fro111 In u111inated 1\1an- uscripts, pas,,;ng John Hart at a table in the ,E xpress Dair . on the corner of Museum Street and Holborn, congrat- ulated hi111 jocosely on the acquisition of a read) -111ade falTIily. r-fhe other lifted a thoughtful chewing visage, put down his knife and fork, sWc:dlowed. "l hanks, Hill," he said simpl). :\11. Hin 111ade his way to a table c::1S Llr away as possible, discoul aging with ghlIn looks two ladies who showed s;gns of taking chairs opposite hi111. ()pening his Morning Púst, he read, not without satisfactIon, that the Ead of Galloway had been fined five shillings at Marl- borough Street for driving to the danger of pedestrians in Park Lane and resisting a police- 111an in the perfor111ance of his duties. Mr. Hill did not dislike ec::lrls-in fact, he was rather fond of the111 than otherwise (a learned nobleillan is the savant's delight)- hut his feelings c:lS a com- 1110ner were gra tified. Reading further, he W.:1S distressed to learn tha t "onl) the pick of Oxford undergraduates k n e who wrote 'Ivanhoe' or what tht' 'Pickwick P .1- pers' wel e, and any al- lusion to Mrs. Proudie, Becky Sharp, or Mr. Micawberwas likely to fall on deaf e.lrs." It perturbed hiln rathel less that there were threé hundred and fort) -two patients in the s111allpox wards of London hospi- tals; th e au thorities prob- ably had the situation well in hand, wherea nohod} could force un- dergr.1d llates to read ] ro]]opL. Looking up furtivel) froln his paper, he caught sight of 1\/1r. Hart, a folded coPY of the 1'itJl rs clenched in h=s armpit, the bill for his lunch in ont' hand, a cup of coffee slopping over into tJ1L saucer in the other, bearing down upon hÍIn over the con- gested floor. Oh, how M r. Hill wished he had not frightened a way those h.111111ess ladies! THE NLW YORKER How he dreaded "speaking" to 1\1 r. Hart! He need not have been afraid. H.:lrt, too, had been reading the paper, and I11s thoughts were of his country. As soon a" he was seated, with his cof- fee cup on the tablL hLsidL hÜn, he lib- era ted the j'zJrlrJ. ""\That do you sup- pose thIs s;gnifies?" he asked, tapping with one knuckle at a Reuters dis- patch: "FCRrI-lER GRAKfS 1'0 RUSSI.A IX MA.\'"C1--lPH.IA." "Nothing good," said :vir. Hill, who was as 111 uch addicted to viewing with c::11ar111 c::1S the next 111an, and for d qU.:lr- ter of an hour the anI) names 111èn- tioned were Mr Gladstone, Lord Rosebery, Manchuria, and i\r111enia. John Hart had been the on1) bache- lor in Illu111inated Manuscripts for a nU111ber of years, and now he, too, " . '" . > .... ". ø. :) -- "<((.^N/ . . . ;"'/ # ......... ... 4 \ m"'o/ 47 was going to he dOlTIesticated. Secret trilunph craved to show itself in public rejoicings, and one lTIorning John Hart was carried off to a roon1 'It the end of a passage to which 111en fron1 several depart111ents repaired on occa- sion for a SlTIoke and a chat. Grave BulletIns and Transactions hdd been swept off the table to lTIake r00111 for a s111a11 battalion of bottles and tU111- bIers, and John Hart's health was drunk a111idst the jocund popping of corks. "And 'Here's to the widow of- thirty! ' " cried a bold spirit. Al1 drànk deep and joined in the chorus. Thurs- field of Greek Antiquities proposed a still 1110re danng toast: "..L nd h ere's to the \Vidow's Mite! " "She has two 111ites, hasn't she, H "'I " Tl . f artr 1e questIon came r0111 . o'SF:lþ#J "See) I told you I ]"hezr greens and blues are murh sharper than ours"